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My parents are visiting, which means you need to have some activities planned, else with a 4 1/2 daily meal plan, you end up being fork-lifted out of your apartment.

While Barbara and my mom went to China town to go fabric hopping, I took my dad to my favorite place in Bangkok – Gear-Wheel Alley. A place where every time I am there, I think, that a four-week-visit here should be mandatory for any Thai engineering student.

There are a few new murals in Ger-Wheel Alley. here you have a meditating woman standing on a few garbage bags.

I love the above two pictures. The dwellers showed great sense of humor and vision, when they painted their murals to put the stuff sitting outside the house in a different context. But it is also what I have come to expect of residents of Gear-Wheel Alley, because they are all motivated, smart and industrious people.

I feel very inspired when I walk around that neighborhood and of course I hope that the people I show this gem to, enjoy a visit as much as I do.

Mundane scenes such as the locked cart or the breaking facade with the shrubs at the bottom present themselves as still-lives in my mind.

And the of course there is all the metal, the transmission engineering and the people who take someone else’s junk and give it a new purpose and a new lease of life. This is something, where the West can take a page or two from. I saw a guy, who took starter motors apart and uncoiled the copper wire for recycling – that is money in the bank, if you choose to do it.

This shop specializes in differentials and 4-speed transmissions.

While this shop had been cleaned and readied for the weekend as is clearly indicated by the hat resting atop and neatly aligned shafts on the floor.

Over all this busy activity and industry watches Lord Buddha from a tree.

My dad liked the visit very much. He was surprised by the type of work carried out here. It is dirty and physical work, but it also honest work. And with every piece the residents of Gear-Wheel Alley recycle – and there is a lot of recycling going on – they save natural resources and prevent thoughtless exploitation even if just a little.

A few years ago, my wife and Drive from Southern Colorado into New Mexico. We drove past old settlements and farms that collected and displayed all sorts of knick-knack in their front yards. And a few weeks ago, we took a road trip through Thailand’s South-East towards Rayong. What we found on one of the rural roads is Thailand’s equivalent of Roadside Americana. A man out in the cuts, yet directly on a moderately frequented highway, displays his extensive collection of knick-knack.

This is the man himself coming from one of his sheds.

The front yard – welcome to the jingle of signs.

Pretty cool. Now, here lies the rub. All these roadside signs, that look so beautifully vintage are brand spanking new China and Vietnam products that the nice gentlemen offers for sale.

Art is irrepressible. It will find a way to pop up. Art is an expression of life and this just like life it finds a way to develop and emerge in the most unlikely places. We were in Huahin last week and noticed small graffitis lovingly painted onto concrete utility poles.

An abstract, disenchanted face with a buzzcut.

The haters will point out immediately:”NOT a concrete utility pole.” Tru’dat, but it’s still nice, isn’t it?

Whoohoo, we are getting psychedelic….all without mushrooms. You are welcome!

I love the “wormheads”. But my favorite little painting is this…in Thailand. Someone must have lost his marbles and just flipped out a bit.

Alright, this concludes our little trip down the side alleys of Huahin to marvel at these small statements of subversion.

The president of a big country beyond a big ocean wants a military parade. Of course this is big news.

I have heard surprised people and angry people, but I have not heard anybody cheering for this idea of a grand military parade in the big country across the ocean.

I personally think it’s a waste of money. Then again, I can relate a little because there are parade I love to attend. These parades, of course are not called parades, they are called a Grand Concourse and you parade beautiful cars from days long gone. Cars that were designed by hand and made by hand, where no two cars are truly equal. When I feel like it, I find a good location and I hold such a Grand Concourse myself….with small cars. And that is my recommendation to the people across the ocean. Give your president his parade with toy tanks, toy planes, toy soldiers and fireworks rockets. It’ll be a lot cheaper and way easier to organize, than getting all your real stuff congregated in a single city for the one day purpose of marching it down a long straight road.

To give you a bit of a vision, a few pictures from my last Grand Concourse from last Tuesday.

The family shot, everybody is all lined up.

Another family shot in Black / White for the “artsy-fartsy” crowd.

Of course the air Force is going to provide aerial shots of parading participants.

And you close with you best in show at the end.

So there you have it, everybody is happy.

Stay sharp, color outside the lines on occasion and be happy about it.

There is a really cool rap, by Jovanotti – yes an Italian Rapper. The song is called “Il Piove” and it’s ancient. But it’s got a good groove and it’s pretty catchy. Now, why in the world am I unearthing these early chapters from the “book of stories”? It is because of the rain. “Il Piove” is Italian and means “It Rains”. And on Monday it rained like Noah needed to build another boat. Tuesday, was all “Bangkok Weather Innocence” (hot and muggy) and since Thursday it has been looking as if the heavens will open the flood gates anytime soon…..and? Nothing, not a drop. In fact, we are sitting outdoors enjoying a hot afternoon beverage. Barbara’s Latte had a heart, that suffered a lot after the first sip. The analogy was obvious to me – Broken Heart.

Hm, you see? It is weird, how simple things can trigger heavy interpretations. But, no worries dear readership – all us well in the empire. And this, already ends today’s random ramblings.

Bang Saen January 2018. When tourists stroll along the beach walk in Bang Sean they encounter a plethora of signs that remind them to absolutely not smoke. It is “Verboten!” And the penalties and punishments are plentiful, yet weirdly inconsistent… for one and the same violation: Smoking.

This is the beach walk in question. And this is the first sign I photographed.

You smoke and get caught. You pay 5000 Thai Baht. That is about $140 or €125. It is enough to ruin one of your vacation days – agreed? As the tourist still on, they see another reminder,

You smoke, your cigarette will be hit by lightning and likely the offender will be instantly incinerated – I find this one particularly harsh, because it is so final. On the scared tourist walks…cautiously to find the next no smoking reminder.

You smoke and you will pay 100.000Thai Baht for a vacation extension of one year in a Thai prison. That too, can crimp. Tourists style, but at least foreigners and locals are punished the same for the same offense. And we move on.

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Title further done the beach walk, the smoking offender’s punishment will depend on his status: English speaking foreigner or Thai native. Natives are punished with a fine of 100.000Thai Baht and one year in prison, while the tourist will need to pay 1.000.000Thai Baht and spend a year in the slammer.a practice that is common in Thai National Parks. Natives by 1/10of what non-natives pay, even when they are tax payers. I wonder what Thai tourists would say if they were taken advantage of like that when they are abroad. It sure would pour funds into the National Park Service in America or would make the Zugspitzbahn in Garmisch, Germany one of the most profitable cable cars in the known universe. But I digress where we should move on, down the beach walk.

And we have encountered our lowest penalty, yet. You smoke and you pay 2000Thai Baht in fines – Done!

Now in case you still wish to light up and you want to do that by the beach, you may. in these designated smokers cabins, which are clearly designated as such.

Here you may burn’em to your weak heart’s delight, but beware, should you dare to get caught outside the smoke house…..well, then you know that the fines are apparently variable and negotiable….try your luck.